T.D. Jakes

Tate returns: 2011’s first Tate Distinguished Lecture features “America’s Best Preacher,” Bishop T.D. Jakes(pictured right), who isn’t shy about his feelings on the growing polarization in today’s politics. Jakes’ topic for the evening of Tuesday, Jan. 25 is “Seeking Common Good in the Midst of Growing Diversity,” in which the leader of the Dallas-based Potter’s House megachurch (30,000+ members) will tackle the increasing heat in American politics. The lecture will be held at 8 p.m. in McFarlin Auditorium. Students who want to attend are advised to meet in the McFarlin basement at 7 p.m. Tickets are still available for the lecture and can be purchased by calling the Tate office at 214-768-8283.

Never forget: The Office of the Chaplain and the Embrey Human Rights Program will jointly host a memorial service for the victims of the Holocaust to commemorate the liberation of prisoners from the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. The service will be held from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 27 in Atriums C-D, Hughes-Trigg Student Center. For more information, visit the Embrey Human Rights Program website at smu.edu/humanrights.

Football eternal: As the Packers and Steelers prepare to end the NFL season with a trip to Cowboys Stadium for Super Bowl XLV, Meadows Museum hosts a concurrent exhibit for football lovers to get their fix as the offseason approaches. Acclaimed photographer Laura Wilson‘s 11-year study of a popular regional variation of America’s sport will be highlighted in “Grit and Glory: Six-Man Football,” a portfolio of Texas’ minimalistic approach to the game covered from 1991 to 2002. Wilson’s unassuming, close-up technique for this collection parallels the intensity of the small sport and traces its historical significance within the state. The exhibit will open Sunday, Jan. 30th and will run through April 23. Admission is free and open to the public, and the exhibit will be available during normal Meadows Museum hours. For more information, call 214-768-2516.

Leading the way: The Rev. Dr. Stephen Rankin, University chaplain since 2009, will speak on “Seeking a Better Way: SMU as a Leader in Church-Affiliated Higher Education” in the next installment of the Willson Lecture Series Wednesday, Feb. 2 in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center Ballroom. The event begins with lunch at 11:30 a.m.; the lecture follows at noon. For more information, contact the Office of the Chaplain and Religious Life, 214-768-4502

The speakers include Dallas pastor T.D. Jakes of The Potter’s House, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and magazine editor Tina Brown – as well as former presidential cabinet members Robert Rubin (Secretary of the Treasury during the Clinton Administration) and Margaret Spellings (Secretary of Education under George W. Bush).

One fall 2010 speaker is yet to be announced. All lectures take place at 8 p.m. in McFarlin Auditorium.

• Sept. 14, 2010: Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR); and Robert Rubin, CFR chairman and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, 1995-99 – moderated by David Gergen, CNN senior political analyst and former presidential adviser

• Oct. 5, 2010: Ray Kurzweil, developer of computer speech, optical character recognition and synthesized music technology, and inventor of the K-NFB Reader for the blind and learning-disabled